A creator without a creation, a sun without light, a king without subjects: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá calls each of them inconceivable, and from that simple observation draws a large conclusion. The names of God, the Provider, the Life-giver, the Giver, require those who are provided for, given life and given to; and since those names are eternal and actual rather than potential, the outpouring of divine bounty has never begun and can never cease. To imagine a pause in it would be to imagine a finite God. The argument is warm as well as subtle, because it turns the whole universe into an answer to generosity. Yet the same teachers draw a boundary. Human knowledge needs objects to know; the knowledge of God does not, and the perfections of the Essence will not yield to the reach of the human mind. The Qur’án holds both sides in one verse, denying that anything is like God and in the same breath calling Him the Hearer, the Seer [1]. Analogy awakens understanding and must then be set down before it hardens into a likeness. The journey continues into God’s knowledge, the ceaselessness of divine emanation, the essential and actional attributes, and the debate over the eternal archetypes.
The term Creator presupposes the existence of created beings. Were it not that we were created, how could we conceive of the Creator? In thinking of the Provider, one presupposes certain beings who are provided for, and One Who provides.
… If we could imagine for a moment an interruption in the onward flow of the bounties of God, it would be to suggest that God was a finite being. We cannot imagine such a thing. This proves, therefore, that God has always been the Creator, the Provider, the Generous, the Life-giver, the Omniscient, the Omnipotent: and in the outpouring of His virtues there is no cessation at all. Think and ponder upon this very deeply, because this is a very subtle point in Divine Science.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken in Dec. 1912 in London -- ABU0335)
02
There can be no creator without a creation. The sun without light and a king without subjects and a country are simply inconceivable.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to reporters, spoken on 1912-Sep-11 -- ABU3115)
03
We have already explained that the very names and attributes of Divinity require the existence of created things. … Know that a lord without vassals cannot be imagined; a sovereign without subjects cannot be; a teacher without pupils cannot be designated; a creator without a creation is impossible; a provider without those provided for is inconceiveable--since all the divine names and attributes call for the existence of created things.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 47, The Evolution of the Universe and the Origin of Man, 1904-Oct ca. -- AB00077)
04
The Ever-living God hath ever been invested with all names and attributes, and whatever is required by these names and attributes hath existed and will continue to exist forever. The Creator must have creation; the Provider must have those to provide for; the King must needs have a realm, an army, a canopy, a standard, and retinue. This divine sovereignty is eternal sovereignty, most ancient; at no time hath it been in abeyance, for a king without realm and army is but a man of no consequence, and the Absolute Wealthy One, if His purse be empty, would be like a fruitless cypress tree.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1911-Apr ca., to Ishaq son of Panihas -- AB00262)
05
The Creator has ever had a creation, and the rays have ever emanated and shone forth from the Sun of Truth, for a lightless sun would be impenetrable darkness. The names and attributes of God require the existence of things, and no cessation in the outpouring of God's ancient grace can ever be contemplated, for this would be contrary to the divine perfections.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 80, True Pre-existence, 1904-Jun ca. -- AB00839)
06
The world of Divinity presupposes creation, presupposes recipients of bounty, presupposes the existence of worlds. No Divinity can be conceived as separate from creation, for otherwise it would be like imagining an empire without a people.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at Theosophical Society on 1912-Dec-04 -- ABU0033)
07
God is the Creator. The word creator presupposes or connotes creation. … If we should say that there was a time in past ages when God was not possessed of His creation or that there was a beginning for the world, it would be a denial of creation and the Creator. … The sovereignty thereof is everlasting, and the creation thereof is without beginning and without end.
Among the bounties of God is revelation. Hence revelation is progressive and continuous.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at Hotel Sacramento on 1912-Oct-26 -- ABU0119)
08
The names the Powerful, the Living, the Provider, the Creator require and necessitate the existence of creatures. If there were no creatures, Creator would be meaningless. If there were none to provide for, we could not think of the Provider. If there were no life, the Living would be beyond the power of conception. Therefore, all the names and attributes of God require the existence of objects or creatures upon which they have been bestowed and in which they have become manifest. … Therefore, the requirements of the attributes of God do not admit of cessation or interruption, for the names of God are actually and forever existing and not potential.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at 309 W 78th St on 1912-Jul-05 -- ABU0403)
09
There is no separation between a thing and its inherent qualities.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken at Theosophical Society in London, 1911-Oct-03 -- ABU0257)
10
Certainly knowledge without an object of knowledge is not possible in the contingent world, but no-one knows [how the matter stands within] the Essence [of the Absolute].
… Therefore notice that the fact that rays are scattered from the sun to far and near does not mean that the sun has arranged some of them to be near and some of them to be distant but rather in bestowing existence it makes no distinction or augmentation with respect to any. It has manifested all with the same effulgence. But each, according to its own desire, has accepted a particular station and status.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tafsir-i-Kuntu Kanzan Makhfiyyan (Commentary on the Hadith of the Hidden Treasure), 1868 or <, to Ali Shawkat Pasha -- AB00006)
11
Thou hast ever been a God unworship'd, a Lord unlord'd, a Known unknown, a Power unpowered, a Hearer unheard. When Thou didst desire to create that creation, Thou didst manifest the Manifestation of Thy Self. Through what was manifest of Thy Divinity in Him appeared the objects of worship, through the revelation of Thy Lordship in Him appeared the objects of lordship, through the manifestation of Thy knowledge in Him appeared the objects of knowledge, through the revelation of Thy power in Him appeared the objects of power, and through the manifestation of Thy hearing in Him appeared the objects of hearing.
(The Báb, Kitab-i-Asma' (Book of Names), 1264 (late) or early 1265 [1848-1849] -- BB00003)
12
The difference is that the Prophets teach that God’s knowledge does not require the existence of created things, whereas the knowledge of the creatures requires the existence of objects of knowledge. If the divine knowledge stood in need of aught else, then it would be like the knowledge of the creatures and not that of God; for the Pre-existent is incommensurate with the originated and the originated is opposite to the Pre-existent.
… Moreover, the attributes of divine perfection are not so yielding to the exertions of the human mind as to enable us to determine whether the divine knowledge is in need of objects or not.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 82, The Unity of Existence, 1906-Dec-12 -- AB00062)
13
The name "Creator" itself requireth a creation, just as the name "Lord" necessiteth that which is lorded over.
(Bahá’u’lláh, Lawh-i-Abdu'r-Razzaq, to Abd-i-Razz -- BH00060)
14
This infinite universe is from everlasting. The sovereignty, power, names and attributes of God are eternal, ancient. His names presuppose creation and predicate His existence and will.
God is infinite; the works of God are infinite; the bestowals of God are infinite.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at Theosophical Lodge on 1912-May-30 -- ABU0041)
15
These names and attributes of Divinity are eternal and not accidental. This is a very subtle point which demands close attention. Their existence is proved and necessitated by the appearance of phenomena. … Therefore, the divine names and attributes presuppose the existence of phenomena implied by those names and attributes.
… If we try to conceive of a time when creation was nonexistent, when there were no subjects or creatures under divine dominion and control, Divinity itself would disappear; there would be a cessation of the bounty of God, just as the kingship and favor of an earthly monarch would disappear if his kingdom did not exist.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given on 1912-Aug-18 -- ABU0049)
Further quotations · supplied wording and references
16
God hath ever been described with all names and attributes; and among the requirements of these names and attributes is that the creator hath ever been and will ever be in need of a creation, the bestower of grace must have a recipient of the grace, the king must have his kingdom... This divine sovereignty is ancient and from everlasting. At no time hath there been any cessation...
(Abdu'l-Baha, provisional translation, MKT2:158 and AvK1.113)
Sentence boundary needs source review; the supplied wording is retained.
17
The Divine Names are essentially the same as the Named. And the Named is (ultimately) no other than God. (But a difference comes into being because) the Names (unlike the Essence) do not cease to require the realities which they themselves produce. And the realities which the Names require are nothing other than the world.... What is absolutely free from any need of the world is solely the Absolute qua Essence. The Lordship has no such property.
(Ibn 'Arabi, Fusus al-Hikam, in Izutsu, Sufism and Taoism, p. 114)
Supplied quotation · catalogue passage not verified
Sentence boundary needs source review; the supplied wording is retained.
18
Just as He does not need for His being alive the existence of anything other than Him, He also does not need for His knowledge the existence of objects of knowledge. And the Essence [of God] continues to be [un]connected to things.
For His knowledge over all things, before their existence, is the same as His knowledge over all things after their existence, and His power before the creation of all things is the same as His power after the creation of all things.
(The Bab, in His exordium to the Persian Bayan, P. Terry's trans., p. 12)
God knoweth each thing, at all times, as itself, although there is no object of knowledge with Him in the stage of His eternity. Rather, He knoweth each thing, whether universal or particular, before its existence in the same way that He knoweth it after its existence, and no one knoweth how this is possible except God. The doctrine of the distinction between the concepts of life and knowledge is invalid in the station of the Essence, for just as He is alive by virtue of His existence and requireth not the existence of another through which to receive life, in the same way He knoweth each thing and every atom without needing an object of knowledge in the stage of His Essence.
(The Bab, provisional translation, Lawh-i-Valiy-i-Shushtar, INBA 14:417 ff., 40:137 ff., 53:34 ff., 67:195 ff., translation by Keven Brown)
Verily, that which hath forced some of the philosophers to conceive of the presence of the eternal intelligible forms (a'yan-i-thabitah) in the Essence of God, and the doctrine of the True Indivisible Being (Basitu'l-Haqiqah), was their desire to validate the concept of the knowledge of God, magnified be His station! For they stated that knowledge must needs have an object of knowledge, and hence the affirmation of divine knowledge indicateth the existence of pluralities within the Essence of God.... Verily, their grievous sin is due to their use of analogy in their desire to comprehend the essential properties of the Essence at the level of the contingent beings. … Inasmuch as it is evident that His life is His Essence, since His life doth not rely on the existence of any living thing besides Him, then the same is true with regard to His knowledge. He, glorified be He, hath been omniscient from and throughout His immemorial eternity, without the existence of any object of knowledge.
(The Bab, provisional translation, GOH.044 and GOH.195)